


Counting The Hours

by Latios



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood, Fluff and Angst, Gore, Graphic Description, Guns, M/M, Minor Character Death, Romance, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse, its not too graphic tho but its zombies eating ppl so just be warned, some kagehina in the background, theres also some swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 18:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4575837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latios/pseuds/Latios
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa Tooru Has been travelling with some of the volleyball club kids from different schools, all in hopes of finding the rest of their missing friends and Family. Oikawa finds himself missing Iwaizumi most of all, hoping he's still alive after the start of the sickness that turns people into the undead that spread across Japan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting The Hours

“Oikawa, it’s your turn to go catch breakfast.” Kuroo said, handing him his case of arrows in one hand and his bow in the other in passing as he walked over to the little campfire their group had made. 

“Really? But I was in charge of Dinner only a few nights ago…” He whines, slinging the arrows case onto his back.

Kuroo sat down with Kenma, smirking up at him as he shed his jacket onto the ground. “Can you handle it, or not? You could always take Kageyama with you if you don’t think you can do it alone.”

“No thanks,” he groans, already making his way to the forest. He didn’t even want to talk to tobio-chan, nevermind go hunt for _food_ with him. Although he probably could have used the extra protection, It seemed unneeded, as they’ve been safe in this clearing for days now, and he was sure he would be fine on his own. 

“Grab your mask before you go, just in case. And remember to scream like hell if you need anything, we’ll come running.”

“Yes, mother,” he mocks, but sort of flinches after that. He hopes Kuroo or Kenma didn’t notice. He shakes it off as he off to the forest, stopping quickly to grab his mask on the way out.

One year, two months, and seven days—that’s how long this had been going on—this _hell_ , or whatever it was.

He kept track only because he didn’t know what to do anymore, and he needed to keep himself sane somehow.

It was an instant sickness that killed some immediately, and turned others into groaning corpses that chose to feed on those who were still of the living. All within a day, Japan—maybe the whole world even, had started living the apocalypse.

It was just a regular day at school, a regular boring lesson, some texting to each other under their desks while some stared out the window to keep busy; then there were the students who were actually taking notes when it happened. A teacher had hurriedly pushed the classroom door open, catching everyone’s attention in a mere second. 

“You all need to go home, Now.” The teacher had said at the time, covered in sweat from head to toe by running from class to class. Oikawa remembers thinking “Ah, did an accident happen?” with slight worry and others were whispering the same sorts of remarks among whispers. The teacher who arrived had pulled their homeroom teacher aside, whispering to him the details of what happened. When the teacher went pale and excused them all, Oikawa wondered the severity of what happened. _What would make a teacher pale like that?_

They were all excused in an orderly fashion—fairly quicker then they would during drills—these teachers looked frightened as they shooed everyone out of the buildings, guiding some into the streets.

He had gathered his stuff, and was looking for Iwaizumi right outside the school when it happened. A sudden cry rang from somewhere behind him, and he looked over just in time to see a teacher, sickly coloured with a low scream of her own and clumsy movements—push over another student—a girl. It happened so fast after that. she’d ripped into the girl’s neck with her teeth, nails digging into the girls skin as she clawed at her body. The girls’ screams stopped fast, indicating she died, or passed out from the pain. It didn't feel real, and it was so out of the blue. That’s when everyone else had started to take action—running away, screaming, hurling from the sight—Oikawa had stood frozen. He suddenly felt like he was five again, lost and wanting to go home—did that really just happen? _What was happening?_

He doesn’t remember how he got out of there, he’s pretty sure an adult dragged him by the arm as the screams of others melted into background noise in his ears. He couldn’t think of anything else at the time—only the girl’s name who was attacked. Her name was Akemi, if he was correct she had confessed to him before, baked him cookies and brought them to his class shyly, as she twirled a finger in the ends of her straight black hair—a cute nervous habit. She was a second year who was pretty popular, had a circle of friends, and sometimes brought them once to the boys’ volleyball match; Even after he rejected her—and now she was dead.

It just kept playing before his eyes, and before he knew it, he was being sat down on the ground—adults yelling in his face and nearby crying, but he couldn’t focus on it. He wanted to know if his friends and family were ok.

And now, a year, two months and a week later, he still doesn’t know. He’d looked for Iwaizumi when this began, back when the hospitals and police were still trying to hold all the chaos together, but even at the hospital they hadn’t gotten any records of someone named “Iwaizumi Hajime” being taken in, and he’d tried not to give up hope.

Though he did find Matsukawa, Kunimi, and Yahaba while he was there, and he was truly thankful they were ok. They set off by themselves.

Since then, he’s met up with the Nekoma volleyball club students. They were playing volleyball when it all went down, and Kuroo had told him the only way they knew something was wrong was when they heard screaming from the gym. At that point, they didn’t know what to do, but apparently Kenma had gathered them up and kept them calm and together—according to Kuroo at least. He was impressed, to say the least, if the short blond really did keep the entire team together in that situation. (He only wishes he could of done the same for his.)

Only a month ago, they found Kageyama, Sugawara, tsukishima, and Yamaguchi. Apparently they were all together, but just before Oikawa’s group had come across them, they ran into a hoard of the undead at one point, and got majorly separated in the process. Sugawara spoke with confidence, saying it was just temporary, and he knew Daichi was safe and protecting the others. Kageyama didn’t look so sure. He Hasn’t spoken more than ten words since they joined up, and Oikawa was pretty sure it’s because Shrimpy wasn’t with him. He didn’t tease him, Even to fill the silence or get a rise our of the other. He mostly left Kageyama alone since then. Oikawa was in the same boat, after all.

According to the radio they had, In the first 3 months, Over a million had been confirmed dead, and at least triple that were still missing in Japan alone. the rest of the people had fled, leaving on planes or boats if they were able. Oikawa only hoped Iwaizumi and his family were safe, even if they were some of the ones who left Japan in a rush, but at least they'd be alive, and it was good enough for him.

Oikawa crouches in the overgrown summer grass. He just had to wait for it, and dinner would walk by on it’s own, with some patience. Preferably something big with four legs and mighty antlers, he thinks hopefully. They could all use a good meal; they’ve been eating rabbit and fish for weeks now.

He doesn’t have to wait long—it’s not a deer, like the rest would have wanted, but he’s not too picky. The rabbit that bounces by was fat, and hopefully slow at running.

After shooting an arrow clean through it, he feels a bit luckier. Maybe today would be a good day. 

Even quicker after finding a new spot—he spots another rabbit. This one isn’t as big, but it’ll do—keep them energized until they can find something else, he’s sure.

Just before he lets go of that arrow, he hears a crunch in the dirt nearby. Not something by a deer he’s quickly informed, as he can hear the quiet squeak of a shoe. The rabbit runs away, and he freezes. There wasn’t a groan accompanying the sound he heard, so he can only assume whatever just made it’s way into the forest was still human.

Ice spikes his blood, and he tips his head to pull his mask down. That’s what these were used for—protection. To conceal your identity when you stole—or when you had to fight against another human and you didn’t want them to come after you. He hoped he didn’t have to use it today, but maybe he jinxed it just by hoping he was going to have some luck this time around.

He hears it. The tiptoeing goes on, and Oikawa huddles behind the nearest tree, straightening up while pulling a gun off his belt. He didn’t like using guns either, they were loud and made a ruckus. But he didn’t want to die here, either, and if he could kill whoever this was, he could alert the rest of the group to danger.

He takes the safety off his gun, and bites his lip to keep silent as he peeks around the tree.

There they are, a few short meters away, walking stealthily through the trees. From what he could see, they were wearing cut up jeans and a plush grey hoodie with a jean vest over top. Oikawa couldn’t see their face—they also had a mask on.

Even after all this time, he still hated killing. It still wasn’t something he was used to—something he could ever get used to. But it was necessary to survive. It's them or you, and he learned early on in this mess that you can’t hesitate, or you’re a dead man.

He aimed, ready to pull the trigger. Click, and—

 _Boom._

Only that wasn’t his gun, and he realized quickly that the other had shot at him before he could, and it barely missed him, whizzing by his shoulder and hitting some foliage behind him. Oikawa ducked for cover, muttering a quick ‘fuck’ under his breath as he held the gun close. How did they do that?! And how did they hear him there? _Fuck fuck fuck FUCK._

He tries to catch his breath. _Please don’t let me die here, I can’t die, not yet._

When he looks around the trunk again, his heart nearly leaps out his throat when the person came a lot closer than he thought, whacking something against the side of Oikawa’s face, and he falls to the dirt, jaw throbbing as he lands on his shoulder painfully, making him drop his gun.

The person towers over him, but before they can even lift their bat or their gun, Oikawa has already kicked the persons’ legs out from under them. He contemplates running, but he doesn’t think he’d get that far. Not with his leg—it’d only gotten worse after the world fell apart. He didn’t have a limp yet, but he wasn’t a star runner with it or anything. He’d also rather not get shot in the back today, if he could avoid it.

Instead, he grabs for his gun, but it’s kicked out of his hand before he can lift it, and it skids across the dirt, out of his reach and into a bush.

The person has already gotten back to their feet, and lands a quick kick to his side, winding him, and he spits the blood onto the dirt from when he was hit in the jaw; he doesn’t have anything else in his system he could possibly cough out, but it still hurts, and he chokes on the air.

But the other person doesn’t give him the chance to catch his breath—he’s not that fortunate it seems, as he’s delivered a punch to the other side of his face, and he curls up into his side.

This is it. This is how he dies. He’s going to be killed. In the middle of the forest, too, so not only the undead—but the forest animals can chew on his skin for a snack, too. 

The person isn’t finished with him, it seems, as he grabs his gun, pointing it at Oikawa. He doesn’t have enough energy for it, but he can at least try to run, as a last resort. Hide behind the nearest, try to take shelter from the bullets or crawl back to camp if he has to. He just can’t die _yet._ Not until he’s confirmed for himself what became of the rest of his friends, his family, _Iwaizumi—_

With most of his strength he kicks the gun to the side, hoping he’ll drop it. It’s a long shot, but the person is close enough to him for it and the gun doesn’t fall from their grasp, but it swerves, bullet hitting the sand a foot beside Oikawa’s head.

He kicks the person in the chest from his cozy spot on the ground, and with a grunt, they tumble back, and Oikawa books it to the trees, praying he can make it. He knows they’ve already gotten up, but he can’t stop—not yet. Kuroo’s probably on his way, it’s not possible that he didn’t hear the gun shots echo through the clearing since their camp was so close by, _right?_

His hope takes a fall, and so does he, when his ankle is tugged at, and his chest hit the ground as he tumbles. 

Before he lets anything happen though, he rolls to his back, kicking at the nearest part of them—which ends up being their face. _Score._

The mask un-clicks from his head and lands on the ground, rolling off to the side somewhere, and Oikawa’s heart has already stopped beating, so he can’t bother to worry about anything else. The only thing he can do is look at the man’s face. 

He wasn’t shot—at least, he doesn’t think he was. But he can feel the tears clouding his vision already, and he hopes he isn’t already dead and went to heaven.

In front of him is Iwaizumi Hajime, and he couldn’t be any happier to see him. Well—he could be, if he put the gun down. Iwaizumi has a loaded gun pointed at his forehead once again. This is when Oikawa realizes that he still has a mask on, and Iwa-chan doesn’t know it’s _him._

His voice isn’t working, the second he tries, he only feels a wheeze come out, and it’s understandable, because he’s been kicked in the gut pretty hard—which he’d been distracted from the pain of for a few moments in the heat of action, but now it was terribly painful, and _damn, Iwaizumi could kick pretty hard if he wanted to._ It was no wonder he survived this long. But the other half of him is just speechless, because although he couldn’t admit it, by the time he had left their hometown, he had mostly assumed Iwaizumi dead in the back of his mind. He hadn’t given up hope though—It was the only thing other than counting the days keeping himself alive. he wouldn't lose hope, not until he saw for sure what had become of him. It’s all he had, and he told himself Iwa-chan would smack him silly if he gave up that easily.

He holds his hands up instead, in surrender, because _Iwa-chan wouldn’t hurt him like this, right?_ If he can’t use words, he can just use actions for the moment. 

“You were going to kill me and now you’re throwing in the towel?” Iwaizumi eyes him up and down, holding his gun with more precision. “How cowardly. How do I know you won’t run to your buddies and come after me?”

Oikawa doesn’t know what the right action is, what he could say or do—He just feels like crying, sobbing loudly into the open, because even hearing his voice after so long gives him an indescribable emotion. 

And so he does. He feels his mouth lips quake and form a small sob and he sniffles, letting it all out. It’s more inconvenient with a mask on, he can barely see anything now with the tears prickling at his eyes. he just prays Iwaizumi won't shoot before he can take his mask off.

Iwaizumi quirks a brow, starting to look uncomfortable. “Hey—I won’t kill you, just stop crying, ok?” He keeps his distance though—smart, Oikawa thinks, because it would be a good tactic to pull at the heartstrings to lower the others’ guard, then take that chance to kill them. Oikawa probably would have pulled something like that too, if his life really counted on it.

He finally finds his voice and mutters, _“Iwa-chan”_ through his tears and snot. The other man visibly tenses, paling and eyes going wide. He tries to laugh at iwaizumi, or say “The look on your face!” But even he couldn’t make a joke at a time like this, and it comes out as a sob instead.

_“Oikawa?”_

He nods, because its all he’s capable of right now, and with his surrendering hands cautiously takes the mask on his face, pulling it over his head as he meets Iwaizumi’s eyes for the first time in so long.

Iwaizumi drops his gun, and it lies forgotten on the ground and he slumps down, taking Oikawa into his arms.

“Holy shit,” He pulls Oikawa in closer, if that’s even possible, and tucks his face into the crook of Oikawa’s neck. _“Holy shit.”_ he repeats, The vibration on his neck from the talking only makes him clutch the back of iwaizumi’s vest tighter in his hands. He’s really here. _He’s really here right now._

Oikawa laughs, still voice cracking. “You already said that, Iwa-chan! And don’t swear so much, ok? Girls would find it repulsive.”

“Shut the fuck up,” He mutters in response, but even Oikawa can hear the quake and emotion in his voice, and knows he was missed as well. The tears bubble up in his eyes again, rolling down his cheeks as he tries to remember how to breathe calmly.

They stay there like that for a while; they’re making up for all the time apart, and neither of them speak for a while after that. There’s nothing to say, so they save their breath and just hold each other close.

A few minutes later, Hajime pulls back, and Oikawa follows his body, not ready to be apart for yet. Hajime cups his cheeks, wiping the almost-dry tear trails off of them. 

“Where did you go when it all started? I never found you, and I thought you were dead.” He whispers, searching Oikawa’s eyes. Hajime may have been silent at crying, but Oikawa could see the wetness in his eyes.

“I’m not too sure, really. One second I was watching a girl get mauled at school, then everyone scattered. I went to the hospital, and never found you.”

“Did you stay at the hospital? They had protection services and prepared beds and food there for a while, I know, but I never saw you there when I went.”

 _Ah. So he was there._ “I did—only for a day though, then I got anxious and left with the others, and we tried to see if we could meet up with our families, but no such luck.”

“Then you must have just missed me. I was with my family first, but a few days after the mess started my father got bit, and then we tried to go to the hospital and—“ he stops, shaking his head. “They’re dead. Both my parents—The hospital kicked us out. They didn’t help bite victims, so we were left on the streets with nowhere to go.” He frowns. “I didn’t know what to do when it happened to my mother, too, I felt so hopeless.” 

“I’m so sorry, Iwaizumi.” He whispers, threading his hands through his short hair with both his arms still draped around Iwaizumi. 

“I didn’t know where to go after that, but I somehow found Hanamaki, and just a while ago we came across some people from Karasuno.”

“Was Shrimpy with you? Is he still with you?” 

“Hinata? Yeah, Why?”

“I’ve been Kageyama for over a month, and he hasn’t spoken 10 words since he got here.” He says.

“You mean you found the other Karasuno guys?” Iwaizumi perks up.

“Yeah, they’re back at camp—where we should go soon, by the way.”

“Okay, let’s go then.” Iwazumi replies, pulling himself up, and then lending a hand to oikawa, who takes it with a smile.

It’s just then that Sugawara rushes into the scene, panting. He looks relieved though, when he sees Iwaizumi and Oikawa unharmed. He leans against the tree, smiling in relief as he catches his breath. 

“ Oh _thank God._ You guys are ok? We heard a gun shot.”

“We’re fine,” Oikawa replies sincerely, grabbing for Iwaizumi’s hand near his sides, and squeezing it tightly once it’s in his grasp. For the first in a long time, he truly does feel alright again, and he knows it’s the same for Iwaizumi when he squeezes back.

~

Hours later, when the sky is dark and murky and the sun has fallen below the sides of the mountain, they’re all secured at camp, reuniting with one another. It turns out they all did find each other a lot quicker than Iwaizumi found Oikawa—and they we’re all getting comfortable when they heard a gun shot, and knew something had gone terribly wrong. They’d searched for them, and panicked until Sugawara had come across them.

“I’m just so happy neither of you were hurt, that could’ve ended up badly,” Sawamura says to them around the bonfire, and Iwaizumi visibly pales again.

Oikawa squeezes Iwaizumi’s hand, as they haven’t been able to part since earlier, stuck at the hip since they came back to camp. They both know the fight between them could have gone south very quickly, and Oikawa didn’t hold it against him for almost putting a bullet in his head—he was trying to do the same thing after all. He’s just thankful it all worked out the way it did, and nobody had gotten hurt.

The terrible thing was that a few Karasuno members were still missing, but their plan was to send a search party in the morning. If over half the Karasuno members had traveled this way, odds are the others might be close by, too.

Oikawa looks across at Hinata and Kageyama, who are practically in each others laps, snuggling up together on a log as Shrimpy laughs at something funny, and for the first time since he got here—Oikawa can see Tobio smiling. So they were thing.

“Gross, get a room,” he mutters with a pout, fully knowing Kageyama can’t hear him. He’s happy for him, in his own way. At least he won’t see the kid moping around camp anymore, and might actually be able to tease him again and get a favourable response.

Kozume looks happy too, no longer silent or otherwise complaining about ‘no wifi or power for his game system’. He was sitting on Hinata’s other side, small smile of his own, and it slightly surprises Oikawa. _Just how many people was Shrimpy friends with?_

Sawamura, Nishinoya, Kiyoko and Yachi had also Joined the group, but other than Iwaizumi and Hanamaki, they hadn’t seen any of their friends from Aoba Jousai yet.

“You never fully told me what you were doing when this all started earlier.” Iwaizumi says, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Ah—I was shortly at the hospital, like I’d mentioned, but I didn’t stay there long.”

Iwaizumi nods.

“After that, I ran into everybody back at camp here, and we all agreed the best way to stay unbitten would to go in the woods and avoid cities, for the most part.” He shrugs. “We’ve been out here for a few months, just going back and forth to find the best place to stay when we came across half the Karasuno squad. And now we’re here.”

“Do you know what happened to your family, yet?”

Oikawa shakes his head with a sad smile. “No, not yet—I just hope they’re alright.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” he retorts, and it doesn’t give much room for Oikawa to doubt. Iwa-chan was alive after all, which was hope enough that his parents and older sister and nephew we’re also ok.

Iwaizumi slides closer in comfort anyway, and Oikawa feels a smile tugging his lips back up.

Now was as good a time as ever, right? Nobody was looking at them, anyway, caught up in their own little world and talking amongst themselves, or the people closest to them they’ve reunited with.

“Iwa-chan.”

“Hm?”

“I spend most of the time up until now thinking about you.”

Iwaizumi sputters, and mumbles out a quick “idiot” but he’s hiding his face in his palm, and Oikawa knows he’s probably blushing. Iwaizumi was always fun to embarrass, and he really missed ever one of his reactions.

“I’m so happy you’re back, you know?” Oikawa sighs happily, sinking down into his side, head finding its way onto Iwaizumi’s shoulder.

He never had the courage back then, but that was when things could go wrong in a million ways in his mind, take a bunch of different paths and more then half of them being bad things.  
Everything had already gone to shit now, what was left to be afraid of? If anything, now he’d act so he wouldn’t regret it in the future. He almost lost Iwaizumi once, he wasn’t alright with holding it back any longer. It felt fine to say now.

“Iwa-chan?”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to ask you out when we were in school still.”

The pause is loud, but Oikawa doesn’t really mind, since this was to be expected.

“I don’t know if I ever planned to tell you though, I think I was just going to keep it to myself honestly. I always thought it would be bad to tell you, but after going to hell and back and worrying this entire time where you were, if you were okay, if you were alive, even—it feels like everything I was worrying about was dumb and stupid, and even if you don’t feel the same way, It’s fine because I’m just glad we’re together again.” 

“You always worry about dumb and stupid things, Shittykawa.”

Oikawa’s jaw drops. 

“Iwa-chan, I was being serious here you know—“

“I Know. I am too.” Iwaizumi sighs, looking up stars. “I’ve loved you for a long time, but I figured we’d always be side by side anyway, so it didn’t matter whether I said anything or not, right?”

His eyes trail down to meet Oikawa's. “That’s what I thought at the time, anyway. But Now I think I was just running away from it too. After I didn’t have you by my side, I knew it wouldn’t have changed anything, but I regretted never sharing my feelings. When you think you might die every time a new day starts, it makes something like telling you that seem small and easy to accomplish, and I’d hope we could see each other again so I could tell you as well.”

“Stop talking about dying, you’re totally killing the mood here.” Oikawa groans playfully. Iwaizumi swings a fist at him as he laughs.

“We were both kind of stupid then, I guess.” Oikawa laughs.

Iwaizumi’s gaze trails to Oikawa’s lips, and Oikawa instinctually leans in, closing his eyes; nothing felt more right to do at the moment.

It’s not exactly a peck, but it’s somewhat short. Too short for Oikawa’s liking, anyway, but it’s great nonetheless. Iwaizumi’s lips are slightly chapped, and he makes a mental note to tease him about using chapstick later. (something along the lines of _“It’s the apocalypse, but you still need to keep up on appearances, Iwa-chan~!”_ )  
The flickering sound of the fire and chatter around them had already turned into white noise, and the only thing he can hear is his own heartbeats accelerate as Iwaizumi cups his cheek during the kiss. 

They part when they realize they do, in fact, have an audience still, and Iwaizumi blushes deep when he hears Suga’s “oooh.” And daichi’s quick hiss for him to ‘stop it’ meets their ears.

They sit quietly after that, arms around each other, and knees tapping against each other as they lean back and look at the stars. They fall asleep that way, snuggled up near the fire, and someone drapes a blanket around their shoulders. 

~

When the morning comes, they wake up there, on the ground, with Kuroo smirking at them from across the dying campfire, still on watch from the night before. Everyone else had either been up already to prepare to leave, like Sugawara, or had been sleeping still, tired after a long night of catching up with their friends.

Oikawa ignores Kuroo, and Gets up to help Iwaizumi ready for the search. 

As they wait at the entrance of their camp to depart, Iwaizumi tugs him back by the hand, and Oikawa meets his serious eyes. 

“We’re going to have each other’s back from now on, Ok? We’ll stay safe together. And after we find the rest of our friends, we’re going to look for your family, Oikawa.”

He nods, and tugs Iwaizumi along to catch up with the others, who’ve already departed. 

Iwaizumi doesn’t even have to say it—they both know they’ll be fine from now on, as long as they were with each other, they could conquer anything. Be it the undead, humans, sickness, or even the end of the world, it felt like no match when they were with each other.

He tightly winds his fingers through Iwaizumi’s, and they head out, as the search begins.

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's a zombie apocalypse, but I'm still to weak to write character death lol  
> I came up with this idea and wrote this all up at like 6am, so some stuff might not make too much sense, but I hope you like it! It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, honestly.  
> everything is self beta'd (when it wasn't 6am, and when i was actually functioning)
> 
> I'm definitely going to write more for stories for Haikyuu!!, but i might be a bit slow at it. please tell me if you liked it?? ;v;


End file.
